Ashihiki no yama ni ou chō morokazura morotomo ni koso iramahoshikere - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あしひきの山に生ふてふもろかづら
もろともにこそ入らまほしけれ

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yama ni ou chō morokazura morotomo ni koso iramahoshikere
English Translation: Like morokazura,
the vine said to grow wild
on the mountainside,
together, side by side with you,
there I would wish to enter
Meaning: Like the morokazura vine said to grow upon the mountain, it is together with you, side by side, that I would wish to go into the mountains.
Commentary: Book Ten Love Poems II 694

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that, like the morokazura said to grow on the mountain, he would wish to enter the mountains together with her. To the woman who asked with irony whether he had gone back into the mountains, he retorts that if he goes in, he wants to go with her.
It is a reply to the preceding poem, 693, answering its "yama no ha ni iri" with "iramahoshikere."
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Ashihiki no," is a pillow word for "mountain."
The second line, "yama ni ou chō," means "said to grow on the mountain."
The third line, "morokazura," is a plant used in a hair ornament combining hollyhock and katsura; the first three lines form a preface that repeats the sound "moro" to lead to "morotomo ni" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "morotomo ni koso," means "together with you," with "koso" an emphatic particle.
The last line, "iramahoshikere," means "I would wish to enter," closing in the perfective in answer to "koso" in the fourth line, a kakarimusubi pattern. It answers "iri ya shiniken" in the last line of the preceding poem.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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